Everything happens for a reason.
“I’m sixteen. I can’t even sign my paperwork for myself but you want me to choose classes that will reflect a career for the remainder of my life? Right.”
Those were my exact thoughts when I first met with my academic advisor the month before I started college. I wanted to help people. No, I wanted to help kids… Hmm… Nursing. Nursing sounds good, right? Maybe psychology? Okay, either way, I need general education classes and anatomy. Got it.
First day of classes goes something like this: I get lost trying to find the building I’m supposed to be in. Now I’m 15 minutes late so everyone is starring as I walk in. I find a seat only to find the professor is showing photos of various symptoms of illnesses. I start to gag. Nope, no, no way. Grab my stuff and walk out. I’m walking to registration to drop all of my nursing classes and definitely change my major to psychology. But on the way there I run into a mom and her two sons with ‘something like a hearing aid’ on their heads.
Everything happens for a reason. I find myself saying this over and over to myself over the years. But looking back at this very moment, that’s how I know it’s true. Lost, irritated, and grossed out, I fled that classroom just at the right moment to run into this mother. And she changed my life. I asked her about her kids and the ‘something like hearing aids’ on their heads. She politely corrected me and explained her sons were both deaf but with the help of the cochlear implants and the auditory-verbal therapy they received starting at a young age, they were both able to listen and speak.
I changed my major that day. I was going to be a Speech-Language Pathologist and I was going to teach deaf kids to talk. Sounds great, right? Well, it has been. I’ve been blessed to work with families every day of my life doing something that I love and on most days, doesn’t even feel like work. I’ve seen the smile on a mother’s face the first time her son heard her voice. I’ve heard a little girl’s first word. I witnessed a child come into the clinic for their first therapy session not responding to sound or vocalizing and six months later this little guy was driving his mother crazy with the amount of vocalizing he was doing. We were both so happy she couldn’t get him to quiet down. And there aren’t many people out there that will understand that moment. But I do. Everything happens for a reason.
A grieving mother once asked me what I thought caused her 9 week old son’s deafness. I explained a few of the different things that could cause deafness in utero. She told me nothing fit their situation. I felt bad I didn’t have the answer but I told her ‘Everything happens for a reason’. I worked with that family for almost a year. I remember always thinking how dedicated that mother was to her son and his therapy and language growth.
I heard from that mom a few days ago and that sweet boy is almost three now, full of life, love, and language. She told me about some personal things going on in her life at the time of her son’s diagnosis and went on to explain the diagnosis brought her family closer together. All working on one common goal: To make this little boy’s life better. And you know what she told me?
‘Everything happens for a reason.’
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Andi Bell
Andi is a Speech-Language Pathologist who is seeking certification as a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist. She currently resides in Dayton, Ohio and works at Dayton Children’s Hospital serving children and families affected by hearing differences. She is passionate about helping others reach their best potential and loves taking care of her four-footed-furry friends as well.
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